9 Months Old

Double the pleasure, double the fun....and that is no joke my friends. Now that the weather is FINALLY getting nicer outside and the twins are really becoming little people who interact with us and continue to show their personalities we are loving getting to go outside and play. The park and the swings are just one of our new favorite places to go. I have a feeling these next couple of spring and summer months are going to some of our best ever.

Get me a diaper, no the size 3. The one with a 3. A 3 looks like this (me drawing a 3 in the air) a 3.

So this might not seem like a big deal to most of you and I suppose it really isn’t in the grand scheme of things but really it is. Sure, Ryne has a full four more pounds of love for us to hold onto but why oh why does this mean we have to be in different sizes of diapers. Sure, you’re grabbing two anyway when it’s time to change what’s so hard about grabbing two different sizes. Well, it is. I could just leave it at that and be done with this post but let’s discuss. When you are doing something like changing a diaper that is typically a task that you really don’t have to think too hard about and then all of a sudden you do? Yeah, now it gets to be a bit more of a challenge than you really hoped it would. You’re used to just grabbing from the basket and getting it done. Now, you have to make sure you grab two different ones and if they look exactly alike you have to squint your eyes to see the sizes to make sure they are different, then you get to the babies and you have to look and squint again to make sure you grab the correct one for the right baby and then you start the diaper change and do another check because diapers are like gold and you don’t want to mess it up. Not only is this a challenge but even more is when you’ve trained your 3 and 5 year olds to be diaper gophers for you and now you have to try and train them to figure out the difference between the two diapers in cases you need just one diaper or even if you need two. And another time is when you’re out and about and you need to grab a diaper out of the diaper bag and of course the first seven you grab out are all the wrong size. You might be thinking, “why not just keep them in the same size?” And I thought this same thing too and trust me I almost decided to either keep Ryne in the snug ones or bump Low up but really? Why should either of their little bums suffer just for me to not have to have squinty eyes so many times in the day?

You've gotta be some type of ninja to wipe your kids nose right?

I mean WHERE DOES ALL THE SNOT COME FROM. Like seriously people, these babies are tiny (well Ryne isn’t tiny but he’s much smaller than I am) and they are like a faucet of snot. I cannot keep up with the wiping, sneezing, coughing and eye goop. Yes, there is also eye goop. What in the world. Okay, let me back it up. These sweet babies of ours somehow miraculously avoided being sick except for the occasional little sniffle here and there for their entire 8 months of life. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t keep them in a bubble to avoid germs, trust me. We get out and about. Plus, they have Hattie and Rhett coming home from preschool with germs three days a week and as much as we think we follow the rule of washing hands as soon as we get home, we aren’t perfect. Regardless, we avoided a lot of sickness for a long time and then BAM. About a week before we left from spring break every single one of the kids came down with something. A fever, upset stomach, sniffles...something and passed it around. Low ended up being diagnosed with croup right before we left and we thought it was the end and we were all on the up and up. Insert FLORIDA and much more sickness. It never fails, when we go on a vacation since Hattie was born we have had to go to an Urgent Care for at least one person in our family. Whether it was one of the kids, Matt or I or my parents, someone came down with something that needed to be checked out. We’ve had one of us end up staying overnight in the hospital to being diagnosed with strep or pink eye and even bronchitis. This vacation did not skip a beat along those lines. The babies so luckily came down with their very first case of the stomach bug. There was disgusting situations coming out of everywhere and at a moments notice. They never had fevers but trust me, they didn’t need them to know this was the real deal. They even so graciously passed it on to most of the group who of course just loved that. I will spare you the rest of the details...like sitting at a bar watching the Cubs opening day and everyone is smiling, the sun is shining, cocktails were flowing, kids were happy, we *think* everyone is healthy and BAM Harlow exorcist projectile vomits literally everywhere and did not stop until anything and everything inside her teeny tiny body was out. Yeah, so that was fun. Sickness you can go away and never return again...at least spare us on vacations would ya?

Here, Hold This

I know I have said this phrase before...but man-o-man reaching the “holding their own bottle” milestone has been a GAME CHANGER my friends. Seriously though, let me tell you the reasons why. For the past 8 months I have had them on my lap, on the double boppy aka the Twin-Z pillow for every single meal, unless someone else was home to hold one of the babies. Don’t get me wrong...I have LOVED every feeding. Once we got the position down so I wasn’t hurting my back and we were in the flow of feedings it was great! Until, they became aware of everything else going on around them. When I was holding their bottle and they were wanting to see what Hattie and Rhett were doing, what was happening on Grey’s Anatomy, who was texting my phone, what toys were on the ground waiting for them to play or just being wiggly it was so difficult to keep both babies settled. I would be feeding them and then one would look one way and try and flip their body sideways to see whatever it was they were looking at and the other would then be interested and also do some type of flip, twist maneuver either the same way or the opposite way. Meanwhile I am sitting there trying to keep a bottle in their mouth, two bottles from spilling out all over the place, two bottles from falling on the floor, two babies from falling on the floor, my coffee or water from getting knocked over and who knows what else. It started to become quite the challenge, as you can imagine. I kept thinking how am I going to get past this phase, I know this pillow wasn’t going to last forever but what is next if they aren’t holding their bottles yet. I really, really did not want to begin feeding them on a different schedule and honestly I don’t think they would have done well with that either. They are so used to getting up at the same time and eating at the same time I could not just have one sit there waiting so patiently (yeah right) while the other is being fed PLUS that would just make feedings last double time. My guess is that the babies sensed this craziness and their mama’s wheels spinning for a couple of weeks and decided to up their game. Now, that they are holding their own bottles we have moved double feedings to the floor, still using the pillow but in a slightly different way. I change diapers and sometimes clothes during the feedings, they lay on the pillow and hold their bottles and typically look all around but since they are in control they know to move the bottle with them whichever way they are turning, unlike me when I had no clue they were about to flip to the right! Harlow has even figured out how she can work it so she doesn't have to hold her bottle anymore, she just turns to wherever Ryne is, props it right on him and lets go...lazy or genius you tell me. So….for now we back to calmer feedings. I have no idea if and when that will change again. Fingers crossed we can just rock this bottle system until their first birthday when we phase out as many bottle feedings! At least that’s my hope, best laid plans though.

Splish Splash...They Hate the Bath

When we first got pregnant with Hattie I remember thinking how stinking excited I was for so many things and one of those things was bath time. I thought bath toys, splashing, bubbles and more would be so much fun. And it was, seriously a lot of fun. But it is also a lot of work! With twins? Times two! With four kids? Times four! Unfortunately these two little's of ours do not get as many baths in a week’s time as the older two have ever or still seem to get. We are lucky if we get two baths (yes I said two, usually it’s only one) done in a week for the twins, the bigs have at least 4 (every other day usually in the winter). Okay before you say “Ewww Claire, gross!” hear me out. We rarely go anywhere, especially since this weather is not warming up anytime soon it appears so they really don’t get too dirty, sweaty or smelly. Sure, they have a gross diaper from time to time but honestly since we are home most of the day I get it cleaned up quickly and it doesn’t cause much of a problem. Honestly though, the second reason we really don’t give the twins a bath all that much is because they HATE it. We were so excited once they both were sitting up solid on their own that bath time would be so much easier and FUN! I thought they would be excited to see new toys, play and splash in the water and just do something other than playing on the living room floor. Well, my bad because they were and are apparently not on the same wavelength as me when it comes to bath time. We have tried putting them in the tub and in the kitchen sink. They both start off not too bad when they first get in and I think it’s going to finally be the time we will get to play! Then I begin to wash and it all goes down hill. For the most part they don’t seem to mind too much if I am washing their body...it’s their hair where it all falls apart. From the first little drop of water on their head it’s “go time”. I have to get their head wet, soaped and rinsed in a matter of seconds it seems like because they begin to scream, cry, try and stand up, arch backwards and basically put themselves in every harmful scary situation possible in the bath. They are slippery and SO strong that getting them clean, rinsed off and out of the tub cozied up in their hooded towels becomes one of the most stressful events of the week. I am hopeful the more we keep doing it, the better they will be...who doesn’t love a good soak and splash? Someone tell the twins how amazing it is so they will get on board already huh?

On a different but similar note to bath time….have y’all seen Ryne’s hair recently? His hair does whatever it wants, clearly. We try and comb it post bath and it is like Alfalfa and springs up whenever and however it wants. Most recently it puts itself into a fohawk, which don’t get me wrong I think is quite adorable and suites his sweet little face perfectly. But how strange right? We put him to bed and have no idea what it will look like when we get him up in the morning. Will it stay down? Will just the front try and swirl and curl up? Will the entire middle section come together and form a fohawk that looks like it was done on purpose? No one knows, and frankly that’s kinda fun!

  

Stuck On You

Why are you so obsessed with me? Kidding, kidding….it’s the other way around. We are obsessed with them which is probably why they are SO glued to us! We have hit the phase where any movement in any direction that is possibly not towards them panic ensues. I can just be changing position in how I am sitting and Low immediately lets out a cry. The only time this doesn’t actually happen 100% of the time is if she is turned facing the other way and I barely make a move. No matter what if I actually get up off of the floor and go anywhere it’s immediate crying, crawling after me and basically the most pathetic yet adorable situation. Since Low can full on crawl now she follows after me, Ryne on the other hand will attempt to roll wherever we are going or just sit or lay in his spot with the saddest little pout on the verge of a slumped down shoulders cry. Can you just picture this scenario? I decide to go fill my water up in the kitchen, one baby is crawling after me crying with her eyes closed and hoping she is going in the right direction but can’t exactly tell because like I said, her eyes are closed and then you have the other baby, sitting helpless just crying because he either truly is sad I walked away or its sympathy crying because he hears his sister belting it out...or it’s because not only did I walk away but now his sister is crawling away from him too! Regardless of the reason they are officially realizing if they are alone. Sometimes if Hattie or Rhett are in the living room with them, they seem to be okay if I walk away but other times that doesn’t even help. I find myself telling them what I am doing, like they understand me right? But what else should I do? Just ignore them? That sounds mean, so as I am walking away I say “Mommy is just getting her water I will be right back.” or “Mommy is changing the laundry, just a minute. I will be right back.” or I even find myself saying “Come on...I’m in the kitchen. Come with me.” and then I frantically try and do whatever it was I needed to do in the kitchen before she gets in there and I need to pick her up and then at that point I only have one hand to do whatever I need to do in the kitchen. So yeah, basically our house is perfectly calm if I am sitting in the middle of the living room within arms reach of either baby and never, ever out of eyesight.

On a different note than the top 5 things from this last month, we hit a major milestone in this house. The twins have been out in this beautiful world now longer than they were in the womb. We reached the 37 weeks out and are loving every moment. We had to take a picture (shocker I know) to commemorate this milestone and compare to 37 weeks in vs 37 weeks out. At the time we took the 37 weeks in picture I had no idea they would arrive just a couple of days after, a bit earlier than we had planned but they were happy, healthy and ready to join us. We are so thankful they chose to when they did, that gave us a few more days of snuggles with them that we would not have had. 

Below are the twins 9 month milestone pics.